Tag Archives: john belushi

Many people of my generation wax rhapsodic about their experience seeing “Star Wars” for the first time in the summer of 1977 on a big screen. I’m not going to deny how amazing that was. But for me, as a 33-degree comedy nerd, “National Lampoon’s Animal House” was my holy grail back when I was an impressionable pre-teenager. Let me explain the difference: “Star Wars” was PG-rated, so you could easily buy a ticket as an 8-year old and get in. “Animal House” was R-rated, which meant that you could only see it if you could sneak in, or be accompanied by an irresponsible adult. Please remember this was a time before HBO and other “uncensored” movie channels were a common phenomenon for most households.

The first time I was aware of “Animal House” was when I saw a full-page ad for it in the Washington Post, during the summer of 1978 when I was visiting my Dad. At that time, the movie was in limited-release, showing in only a handful of theaters, likely to build word-of-mouth before it was released to multiple theaters. When I saw the ad, the movie was only playing in one theater (the Jennifer Theater), but had a full-page ad. I mean, it had to be a big movie, right? The ad blew my mind. The poster was a mishmash of multiple outrageous things going on in one image. I took that movie page home with me to Tidewater, Virginia and studied that image religiously, like it was Picasso’s “Guernica.” This was an outrageous, off-limits (due to its R-rating) film that promised all kinds of illicit pleasures. I became a VERY obsessed 8-year old.

As I entered fourth grade, I ran into classmates who claimed to have seen the film, who told me in explicit detail about all of the wonders they witnessed. When I finally saw “Animal House,” in a heavily-edited TV version broadcast on the NBC network circa 1981, I thought my classmates were full of s–t. I enjoyed the film a lot, but very little of what they described was there. Then, in the fall of 1981, my Dad came to visit us and got use of a house that a friend of his owned, but was not occupying at the time. The house had one of those exotic mechanical devices called a VCR … and because I was a movie-fanatic, I made a beeline for the tape shelf. I made a LOT of discoveries on that shelf, which I kept to myself, but signaled to my older brother to take a walk with me away from the house to have a “talk.” I told him that this tape collection had a copy of “Animal House” and discussed whether or not this was the “uncut” version. He advised me to keep it cool and that we would check it out later. Well, lo and behold, it WAS the uncut version and finally realized that my classmates were NOT full of s–t. (I also discovered a tape called “Deep Throat,” but that’s a discussion for another day).

For a brief period, “Animal House” was considered the most outrageous, most scandalous mainstream American comedy film. And … was also the most financially successful. How successful? During its production, director John Landis was told he needed a “name” in order to secure a $2 million budget. Landis talked to Donald Sutherland about taking a part as “Dave” the professor for either a flat fee of $35,000 or the SAG minimum and 10 percent of the gross. Sutherland opted for the $35,000. “Animal House” grossed $141 million (when $141 million was a lot of money), which means Sutherland would have made $14 million had he taken the 2nd deal. Heavy sigh …

Like most blockbuster films, audiences interpreted the film to reflect their personal beliefs. Progressives saw the Deltas as a group of non-conformists fighting against a Nixonian-dean and rival group of Conservative blue-noses (the Omegas). Conservatives adopted the Deltas as their heroes, because they saw the Deltas as fighting against political correctness (also true). The real deal is somewhere in between because “Animal House” … like other great comedy films … is an incoherent text. Seriously, all the best film comedies, whether they be “Duck Soup,” “Dr. Strangelove,” “M*A*S*H,” “Putney Swope,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Female Trouble,” “Eating Raoul,” “Repo Man,” “There’s Something About Mary,” “South Park,” etc. are all problematic texts … because there’s something inherently funny about laughing about things we’re not supposed to laugh about. That’s what makes them funny. Comedy is not … and should never be … politically correct. Great comedy should always make you feel ashamed … ideally, MORE than a little ashamed.

As for how “Animal House” holds up nowadays, it’s still very solid. It’s not as “outrageous” as it once was, but it’s still very sharp and holds up much better for me than the original “Star Wars” does.

This is a legendary, nearly 3-hour interview with film director John Landis from the Kevin Pollak Chat Show that is one of the best and most candid interviews I’ve ever seen with a director. Landis directed some of the funniest movies ever made (“Kentucky Fried Movie,” “National Lampoon’s Animal House,” “The Blues Brothers,” “An American Werewolf in London,” “Trading Places,” “Coming to America”), some terrific documentaries (“Slasher” and “Mr. Warmth”), and arguably, the most famous music video of all time (“Michael Jackson’s Thriller”). Landis has so many great, oftentimes extremely funny, tales of a career that spans almost 50 years … one that started when he was a teenager. It’s a career that includes directing the likes of Michael Jackson, Eddie Murphy, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Don Rickles, and many others too numerous to mention. I don’t know if everything he’s sharing is the truth, but even if 20% of what he says is true, he’s lived a more exciting life than pretty much anyone reading this right now. The man is a great storyteller and this interview seems way shorter than it actually is. If you’re a comedy or film nerd, you must watch this.

Holy mackeral! This song damn near defined my 9th grade year in junior high. To my immature ears, this was the angriest, coolest, and funniest song I’d ever heard. Though, crazily enough, I actually first heard this song in the cheesy 1983 horror film “Nightmares.” In that film, Emilio Estevez played a video game addict who played this song constantly in his headphones. In retrospect, that was the ONLY thing I remembered about that otherwise s–tty movie.

When a friend of mine played it for me a year later on a punk compilation he had copied, I freaked out like that blind guy in the 1931 Fritz Lang film “M” when he heard the serial killer humming “In The Hall of the Mountain King.” I later learned the band who did this was Fear. … who I later saw in several infamous and legendary clips on the punk TV show “New Wave Theater” … and whose lead singer Lee Ving had pivotal acting roles in several mid-1980s films (“Flashdance,” “Streets of Fire,” “The Wild Life,” “Clue”) … and who I later learned was one of John Belushi’s favorite bands before he died (Fear plays a VERY pivotal role in the final third of the infamous Bob Woodward biography of Belushi “Wired”).

Guns n’ Roses later covered this on their 1993 album “The Spaghetti Incident”.

A totally rude and nasty classic!!! From Fear’s 1982 album “The Record.” Due to multiple f-bombs, not safe for work.

This is the legendary appearance by the hardcore punk band Fear on Saturday Night Live for the Halloween episode in October 1981. Fear were hired at the behest of John Belushi, who was a huge fan of Fear’s, and Michael O’Donoghue, that season’s head writer. Producer Dick Ebersol asked O’Donoghue what Fear was like and the infamous Mr. Mike explained that they were a pop group, just like the Carpenters. What resulted is mayhem and underground TV history.

O’Donoghue and Belushi bused in multiple punks from Washington D.C. (including, legend has it, Ian MacKaye). After being introduced by actor Donald Pleasance, the band started playing and the punks went completely nuts, violently slam dancing and stage diving. During the third song, one of the punks grabbed lead singer Lee Ving’s microphone and either said “F–k you New York” or “New Your sucks!” The scene faded to black and transitioned to a repeat of the infamous (and funny) satire of Norman Mailer’s sponsorship of Jack Henry Abbott, “Prose and Cons”.

Nowadays, such antics seem corny and quaint. But back when hardcore punk was virtually unknown to the masses, this moment was a sight to behold. One of the all-time best performances by a music guest on SNL.